A Visit with Santa

This is a very special Santa not only because he is Santa but because this Santa attends our Church. Gabe loves the fact that Santa goes to our church. Our church has Wednesday night dinners and Gabe enjoys very much eating dinner with Santa on most Wednesday nights. Here he is letting Santa know what he would like for Christmas this year. Time to move on so other children can have there turn but he had to get a hug before he could leave. What a great memory this will be for Gabe for many years to come.

Semi Formal 2011

This year was Jordon's Last Semi Formal. He met some friends at the dance and had a great time. Aunt Myra helped him out with his hair and looked great. Dad and Jordon

Dustin went to Semi this year with a big group of friends. They all looked great. Dustin and friends went to the Beacon Club for dinner and headed to the dance.

Dustin with his best friend Luke.

Let the Christmas Season Begin!

Oh how I love the Christmas season. My mom and aunts blessed me with the joy of Christmas when I was a little girl and this time of year is still my favorite. I love my home the most during this time of year when all of my wonderful decorations are out that I've gotten from so many loved ones. I love pulling each one out and remembering who got it for me or where it came from. This year we got our tree from a fundraiser that the Vicksburg Baseball team was having. This is probably one of my favorite tress that I've ever had. So many memories hang on that tree and it will be a little sad when it comes down right after Christmas since we put it up so early.This is my little cookie making helper. John's grandma left of with a wonderful Christmas Cookie recipe. Last year when she passed Shenira and I were both given one of her aprons. I picked a Christmas one so now when I make her cookies I have her apron to wear along with it which makes the event just that much more special. We all miss her so much and have decided that having her great grandkids decorate cookies during our Christmas get together is a great way to keep her memory alive. So Gabe and I spend one night making the cookies so that the kids could decorate them. The Christmas Season also brings another favorite thing from my childhood, The Marshall Christmas Parade. I've been attending this parade for as long as I can remember and was also able to march in that same parade during my Jr High and High School years. Even though we live a good 45 minutes from Marshall my husband knows how special this parade is to me and has always made it a priority to make sure that we are there every year. I love sharing this tradition with our son. This year Aunt Jen, Hayden, Harrison and Haley joined up to watch the parade, Nana couldn't make it so the kids smiled pretty for me so we could show Nana how much fun we were having. Our good friends the Moody's have also started coming to this parade with us as well so it was great to hang out with them and of course I had to get a picture of Gabe with his buddies Jayce and Ty!This year was the first time that we've been able to watch the Vicksburg Christmas Parade. It was just Gabe and I but we enjoyed the home town parade as well. I like the night time parades better than day time one because the magic of the lights just seem to make a parade. I was able however to get this picture of Gabe which might be a new favorite for now. John's parents bought a home in Florida last year and are now spending the winters there so this year we had Christmas with them on December 3rd as they headed out for Florida on December 15th. Gabe and Karis couldn't wait to get started with the gift and were sitting here waiting while lunch clean up was happening. We also did the Fuller Family Christmas early this year on the next day December 4th. Uncle Doak was a great sport and was our Santa this year. The kids LOVE it that Santa comes and makes a special visit to just them! He brings each kid a special toy they all get to have there picture taken with him and then he is off to see other children. So we've already had a lot of Christmas fun and we still have much more to go. Coming up is the Semi Formal, Childrens Christmas Play at Church, The Copas Christmas, Kempton/Smith Christmas, The Kempton Christmas, Christmas, and a Wedding that Gabe will be in on New Year's Eve!

Thanksgiving 2011

Once again it was a nicer than normal day this year for Thanksgiving. The kids were able to play kick ball outside and burn off some energy while the adults hung out inside. What a great day. I love it when our family is all together. This year was probably the smallest our Kempton Thanksgiving has ever been but we enjoyed being with everyone that was able to be there. Gabe and I started our Thanksgiving day out at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Carl's place while John was working. After John got out of work Gabe & I met him at his mom and dad's house.

Ahh the beloved kids table. Nana's Fab Five!

Dad Fuller carving the bird for dinner number two for Gabe & I.

Gabe & Grandpa GG enjoying some pie together.

Halloween 2011

Better late than never! Oh do I ever have a lot of catching up to do. Gabe was a skunk this year for Halloween and a darn cute one if I say so myself! We have been so lucky the past few years with Halloween and have had great weather. Not at all like it use to be when I was little. I remember always having to wear our winter coats and you could never see our costumes because of all of the clothing we had to wear to stay warm. Not the case these last few years.

Our little skunk searching through his goodies bag!
I love this picture of the back side of his costume. My mom found it for him at Goodwill and he LOVED it.

After doing our trick or treating we always come home to hand out candy to the other kids. I think that Gabe likes doing this more than he likes going out to get his own candy. This picture is him with his pumpkin that he carved almost totally by himself this year. Can't believe how fast he is growing up. In a few more years he won't want to do this with me anymore. So I'm going to enjoy every minute of it right now!

Happy Halloween! Almost 2 months late :)

Putting My New Gift To Good Use

What a fun filled weekend we had. We started off with taking some school pictures of Dustin & Shenira Saturday afternoon and of course we had Gabe with us and he sure isn't going to miss out on a photo opportunity! We went to two different parks on Saturday for our shoot and I had lots of fun trying out different things. Below are a few of the shots I took of the kids.

Gabe 6 years old 1st gradeShenira 13 years old 8th gradeDustin 16 years old 10th gradeAfter pictures and a little shopping it was time to head to church for our Faith Promise Carnival. What an awesome time we had. There were fun little games for the kids and cute skits put on by some of our "adults" in the church. I use that word loosely! As you can tell by my guys reaction this was lots of fun and probably the best part of the night! Sunday took us out to Indian Run Golf course to take picture of the Project Graduation Class of 2012 Golf Outing. I loved this picture, it was raining leaves and the sun so out so bright and the weather was perfect. What a glorious day.

After taking pictures at the golf outing we headed to Three Rivers to our niece Karis' birthday party. Again a wonderful day to have a party and be outside. Her birthday is being celebrated early this year as her family awaits the arrival of her new baby brother.

I wish this weather would stay like this for a long time but it looks like on rain and gloomy weather will be returning later this week. I am so NOT ready for winter.

A Very Exciting Gift

If you know me at all you know that I have a MAJOR love for taking pictures. My husband is very well aware of this love and so this past week when a friend called and said that she was going to be selling her old camera because she got a new one, I was more than excited. I was even more excited when my dear sweet hubby told me that we would purchase said camera as an early Christmas/Birthday present for me! I got the camera on Monday night and I promptly on Monday and Tuesday night headed out to the park with my little man who is always up for posing and being a little model for mommy.

I love this first picture because it is exactly how I feel about my new camera! This was another favorite from our time out. He has the best smile ever...even if he is a few teeth short!

Thank you John for pretending to understand my sickness of taking pictures and for the great gift so that I can keep on clicking! You are the best!

Beautiful Bride

This past Saturday we went to the wedding of my cousin Kendra. She was the most stunning bride I have ever seen. She looked like she stepped right out of a Disney Princess Movie. She brought tears to my eyes as soon as I saw her.Her wedding was short, sweet and perfect even with the rain. Most brides would have been very upset with having rain on their wedding day especially since it was an outdoor wedding. But Kendra never batted an eye and just kept smiling. She gets the bride of the year award if you ask me!Here she is with her cute umbrella smiling rain and all. See I told you she was stunning!Kendra & her wedding coordinator....Aunt Dawn! These two have such an amazing relationship and a bond that will always be special. They both would do anything for each other. Aunt Debbie made all of these little pies for Kendra & Dan, they were amazing and supper cute. We couldn't let the night get away without getting a shot of the two of them together. Ahh my favorite picture of the night. This boy loves to dance and he LOVES weddings. Thank you Kendra for making my little guy fell so special on your special day. You are a wonderful person and we love you so much. My hubby and I all dressed up for the night.

This was Kendra & Dan's Guest Tree, instead of having a guest book Kendra's brother Spencer drew this tree and each guest stamped a leaf on the tree and then signed their names inside or around the left. I had never seen this done before and thought that it was so cool.


Thanks Kendra and Dan for sharing your big day with us. Everything was perfect, just like you!

First Day of First Grade

Last night I took Gabe out school shopping & to dinner. While at dinner I asked him how he felt about last night being the last day of summer break and this was the face I got! We have had SO much fun this summer that none of us are ready for summer to be over.

My big 1st Grader. I thought the first day of Kindergarten was bad. 1st grade was So much worse. 1st grade means that they get to keep my baby all day long. I no longer have a little playmate with me in the mornings :( So many mom's are always ready for school to start and I'm not so much like that. I love our summer routine and miss it when school starts.                                 

 First Grade!

 Gabe's teacher this year is Mrs. Treat. Now try and say that a few times with your two front teeth missing. We've had lots of fun practicing and listening to him say it. But oh how I love this little toothless grin.

 He had to make sure that I took a picture with him and his pets on his first day of school. The cat was pretty easy the dog on the other hand did not want to have his picture taken and was crazy excited this morning. After several attempts this was as good as it gets.

 Heading to the car. You know you take way to many pictures of your child when he says "Hey mom get a picture of this".



Our annual picture out front of the school with the school sign. I can't wait to look back at these when he is in 5th grade!



 My baby at his first desk. He looks so small behind that desk. But was pretty excited about it. He couldn't help but take a little peek inside just after I took this picture.

 

 Knock'em dead little man.